Hinge



p i 1963 s. WHITEHOUSE ETAL 3,085,286

HINGE 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 20, 1958 April 1963 s. WHITEHOUSE ETAL 3,085,286

HINGE Z5115 janwel Milwhowse/ liaslzle Ra]. h Shaw 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 d ln ln Jim en 1 n a w IIIIIUUIII'II'IIIO Filed Nov. 20, 1958 April 16, 1963 s. WHITEHOUSE ETAL 3,035,286

HINGE Filed Nov. 20, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG 9 fizvenions S. WHITEHOUSE ETAL HINGE April 16, 1963 Flled Nov 20, 1958 HINGE 6 Slieets-Sheet 6 April 16, 1963 s. WHITEHOUSE ETAL Filed Nov. 20. 1958 as as 84 Lesae United States Patent 3,085,286 HINGE Samuel Whitehouse, Dudley, and Leslie Ralph Shaw, Bentley, near Walsall, Engiand, assignors to Alexander Squire Limited, Birmingham, England, a British corn- P y Filed Nov. 20, 1958, Ser. No. 775,234 Claims priority, application Great Britain May 6, 1958 8 Claims. (Cl. 16-180) This invention relates to a new and improved hinge which is primarily intended for the lids of vehicle luggage compartments or for vehicle engine hoods but can be used for other purposes.

The invention relates particularly to hinges which are spring-loaded in order to support wholly or partially the weight of the lid or other hinged member and so reduce the effort required to open it. On modern cars with very large luggage compartment lids and one-piece engine hoods the weight to be lifted and supported may be considerable.

According to our invention a hinge comprises a rigid hinge arm which is adapted to be secured at one end to a lid or the like to be supported and is pivotally connected at the other end to a fixed bracket, and a transverse torsion bar which has a hearing or support in the bracket and has a crank end portion bearing directly against and sliding on an abutment on the hinge arm at a point spaced from the hinge pivot, the torsion bar being loaded to apply to the hinge arm a turning moment acting on the arm in a direction opposed to the force exerted by the weight of the lid or the like.

The abutment on the hinge arm is conveniently formed by an anti-friction roller mounted on the hinge arm at an intermediate point in its length for rotation about an axis parallel to that of the hinge pivot.

A luggage compartment lid or the like will generally be carried by two hinges located at or adjacent to opposite sides of the lid. Each hinge may be loaded independently by a torsion bar of hair-pin outline having two substantially parallel limbs of which one has a crank end hearing on the hinge arm and the other has a crank end anchored in the bracket.

Alternatively, the main parts of the torsion bar may be straight and extend transversely substantially parallel to the axis of the hinges, the remote end of the torsion bar of one hinge being anchored in the fixed bracket of the other hinge or in a part of the body structure to which that bracket is secured. The parallel portions of the two torsion bars may be linked together at one or more points. Preferably the remote end of the torsion bar has a crank portion which, in the unstressed condition of the bar, lies in a plane inclined at a small angle to the crank portion which engages the hinge arm, and the extremity thereof is formed for engagement in any one of a number of angularly spaced openings in the bracket or other fixed part so that the loading of the torsion bar can be adjusted to suit the weight of the lid. Various other methods of adjusting the loading of the torsion bar may be employed.

Some practical forms of hinge in accordance with our invention are illustrated by Way example in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a hinge for the lid of a vehicle luggage compartment the hinge arm being shown in full lines in the open position and in dotted lines in the closed position.

FEGURE 2 is a plan of the hinge shown in H6- URE l,

FlGURE 3 is a perspective view of the hinge shown in FIGURE 3,

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing one ar- 3,085,285 Patented Apr. 16, 1963 rangement of the torsion bars for a pair of hinges of the kind shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of a hinge similar to that shown in FIGURE l and showing one method of adjusting the loading of the torsion bar,

FIGURE 6 is a similar view showing the anchored end of the torsion bar disengaged from the bracket, as for adjustment of loading of the torsion bar,

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary view of a hinge showing another method of adjusting the loading of the torsion bar,

FIGURE 8 is a cross-section on the line 8-8 of FIG- URE 7,

FIGURE 9 is a side elevation of a hinge showing still another method of adjusting the loading of the torsion bar,

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary perspective view partly in section of the adjustment shown in FIGURE 9,

FIGURE ll is a side elevation of a hinge showing a still further method of adjustment of the loading of the torsion bar,

FIGURE 12 is a plan of the hinge shown in FIG- URE ll showing the torsion bar disengaged.

The hinges illustrated are designed for application to to the lid of a vehicle lug age compartment and the term lid is used hereinafter for convenience but it will be understood that the hinges could equally well be applied to a vehicle engine hood or other hinged member of substantial weight.

In the hinge illustrated in FIGURES l to 3 the hinge arm 50 is a sheet metal stamped part of substantially U outline having at one end a right angle fiange 51 adapted to be secured to a sheet metal stamping 52 welded to the underside of a luggage compartment lid 53. The other end of the arm is pivotally connected by a pin 54 of substantial diameter to a stamped sheet metal bracket 55 having on a portion of its periphery a flange 56 adapted to be welded or otherwise secured to a fixed part 57 of a vehicle body.

A roller 58 is rotatably mounted on the pivoted limb of the hinge arm 50 at a point spaced radially from the pivot pin 54, the roller being rotatable about an axis parallel to that of the pivot pin. This roller is engaged by the crank end 59' of a torsion bar 60 supported in a notch or open end slot 61 in the bracket adjacent to the pivot and on the arm side of the pivot.

In the open position of the lid shown in FIGURE 1 the crank end 59 of the torsion bar is substantially vertical and as the lid is closed down the roller 58 on the arm rolls downwardly along the crank end so that the weight of the lid is acting through a progressively increasing leverage on the torsion bar as the lid moves towards the closed position. The relative dimensions and dispositions of the parts are conveniently such that the turning moment applied by the torsion bar to the hinge arm in any angular position of the arm is substantially equal to the opposing moment exerted by the lid. The free extremity of the crank end 59 of the torsion bar may be curved round as shown at 62 to substantially the same radius as the roller which engages with this curved part in the fully closed position of the lid, thereby insuring return of the torsion bar 60 to the inner end of the slot 61 in the fully closed position of the lid, if the torsion bar happened to become displaced slightly in the previous opening operation. This is shown in dot and dash lines in FIG. 1. On the other hand, when the lid is swung open, as shown in full lines in FIG. l, the opening movement is positively limited by engagement of the hinge arm 56 with the torsion bar 60, but such engagement cannot cause outward displacement of the torsion bar from the slot 61 because the pressure is applied to the 3 torsion bar by the hinge arm in a direction transversely of the slot 61.

The torsion bar may be of hairpin outline as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3 in which case the other end of the torsion bar is provided with a crank hooked into an anchorage 63 pierced and raised out of the bracket.

Alternatively the torsion bar may be straight, and in an assembly in which a lid or the like is carried by two spaced hinges of the form described above, as shown in FIGURE 4, the end 59a, 62a of the torsion bar 60a loading each hinge is supported in notch 61:: of bracket 55a whose flange 56a is secured to the vehicle body and anchored at its other end in the bracket 55a of the opposite hinge.

It is desirable that means should be provided for adjusting the loading of the torsion bar to suit lids or the like of different sizes and weights, and some convenient methods of adjustment are shown in FIGURES to 12.

In the arrangement shown in FIGURES 5 and 6 which employs a torsion bar 60b of hair-pin outline one limb of the bar is supported in the notch 61b in the bracket 55b and has a crank end 5911 engaging the roller 53 on the hinge arm as described above. The other limb is supported in a hooked lug 65 on the bracket and has a crank end 66 of which the extremity is adapted to be entered into any one of a series of spaced holes in an arcuate flanged anchorage member 67 welded to the bracket, the spacing of the holes being indicated by three radial center lines in FIGS. 5 and 6.

To change the loading of the torsion bar the second limb is raised into the position shown in FIGURE 6 to disengage the extremity of the crank end 66 from the anchorage and the crank end can then be moved angularly and its extremity inserted into a different hole in the anchorage member.

In the arrangement shown in FIGURES 7 and 8 the second limb of the hairpin torsion bar 60c extends through aligned openings in the side walls of a bracket 68 of inverted channel section. A crank 69 is formed in the part of the bar within the bracket and a rod 70 is coupled at one end to the crank. The other end of the rod is screwthreaded and extends through an opening in an end wall of the bracket, and a nut 71 screwed onto the rod outside the bracket allows the crank to be moved angularly to vary the loading of the bar 600. The first limb of said torsion bar is disposed in a slot of said bracket and provided with a second crank 59c engaging roller 58.

In the arrangement shown in FIGURES 9 and the crank end 73 of the second limb of the hairpin torsion bar 60d extends through a U-shaped stamping 74 guided for arcuate movement about the axis of the bar in an arcuate slot 75 in a recess stamped in the hinge mounting bracket 55d. The stamping is located in the slot by tongues 76 extending beyond the top and bottom edges of the slot in the bracket. The extremity of the crank end 73 fits through an eye 77 at one end of a rod 73, and the other end of the rod, which is screw-threaded, extends through a U-shaped stamping 79 welded to the bracket. By tightening or loosening a nut 80 screwed onto the rod and bearing through a Washer 81 on the stamping 79, the angular position of the crank end 75 of the rod can be varied to adjust the loading of the torsion bar 60d.

In the arrangement shown in FIGURES l1 and 12, the second limb of the hairpin torsion bar 60s is supported in a notch in a lug 82 Welded to the hinge mounting bracket 55e. The crank end 83 of the bar extends at right angles to the bar and its extremity 84 is provided with a crank again to lie parallel to the bar and is engaged in any one of a series of angularly spaced notches 85 in the arcuate lower edge of the bracket 55c.

To alter the loading of the torsion bar the whole bar is moved angularly in a horizontal plane out of a retaining clip 86 on the vehicle body into the position shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 12, and the second limb can then be depressed to free the crank extremity 84 from its 4 notch. The crank end 83 can then be moved angularly and the extremity 84 re-engaged with a different notch.

It will be appreciated that any of the methods for adjusting the loading of the torsion bar can be applied equally well to hinges incorporating torsion bars of the hair-pin type in which the anchored limb of the torsion bar is anchored in the bracket of the hinge loaded by the bar, or to paired hinges incorporating straight transverse torsion bars in which the anchored end of the bar loading one hinge is anchored in the bracket of the other hinge. In either case, one end of the torsion bar is suitably fixed against rotation and cndwise movement and the other end, entered laterally into the open end of a slot, extends freely through the slot for cooperation of its crank arm portion with the roller on the lid supporting hinge arm. The construction is simple and economical and thoroughly practical in every respect, and there is no danger of malfunctioning. The design also lends itself to ease of adjustment to secure the desired counter-balancing force in different applications.

We claim:

1. A hinge for a compartment lid comprising a fixed bracket having a substantially horizontal open end slot provided in one edge portion thereof and a substantially horizontal pivot element on said bracket provided in in wardly spaced relation to the inner end of said slot, a lid supporting hinge arm pivotally mounted on said bracket on said pivot element, an elongated substantially horizontal torsion bar having its one end suitably fixed against rotation and cndwise movement with respect to said bracket and having its other end entered laterally into the open end of said slot and extending freely through said slot, the protruding end portion of said torsion bar being bent substantially at right angles to define a crank arm portion in closely spaced parallel relationship to said bracket, and arranged so that the lid supporting hinge arm is closely confined by said crank arm portion and swingable between it and said bracket and an abutment on the hinge arm in radially spaced relation to its pivot and having bearing engagement directly on the crank arm portion of said torsion bar and movable along it toward and away from said slot in the opening and closing movement of the lid, whereby in the movement of the lid from open to closed position the abutment on the hinge arm causes said torsion bar to be twisted as said abutment moves along the crank arm portion of said torsion bar toward the free end thereof so that the weight of the lid supported by said hinge arm acts through a progressively increasing leverage on the torsion bar.

2. A hinge as set forth in claim 1 wherein the abutment on the said hinge arm has an outer end portion of enlarged radius confining the crank arm portion between it and the lid supporting hinge arm to prevent accidental displacement of said crank arm portion from said abutment.

3. A hinge as set forth in claim 1 wherein the abutment on the hinge arm is defined by a roller turning on an axis parallel to the hinge arm pivot and having an annular outer portion of enlarged radius confining the crank arm portion between it and the lid supporting hinge arm to prevent accidental displacement of said crank arm portion from said roller.

4. A hinge as set forth in claim 1 wherein the free end portion of said crank arm portion is bent in a plane parallel to said bracket and away from the hinge arm pivot, said bent extremity being so spaced radially relative to that portion of the torsion bar engaged in said slot that the abutment on the hinge arm engaging this bent extremity in the fully closed position of the lid prevents displacement of the torsion bar from the inner end of said slot.

5. A hinge as set forth in claim 1 wherein the crank arm portion on the protruding end portion of said torsion bar is arranged so that the lid supporting hinge arm is closely confined by said crank arm portion and is swingable between the latter and said bracket, and the slot is so located and directed with respect to the hinge arm pivot and the abutment on the hinge arm that that portion of the torsion bar protruding from the slot in said bracket is engaged by said hinge arm to limit the opening movement of the lid, the pressure applied to said torsion bar by the hinge arm in this engagement being in a direction transversely with respect to said slot, whereby to avoid outward displacement of said torsion bar from said slot.

6. A hinge as set forth in claim 1 wherein the torsion bar is of hairpin shape having two substantially parallel end portions, the crank arm portion engaging the abutment on the hinge arm being formed on the extremity of one end portion, and the extremity of the other end portion being defined by another crank arm portion that is anchored to said fixed bracket carrying said hinge arm by means providing for adjustment of the loading of said torsion bar.

7. A hinge as set forth in claim 1 wherein the torsion bar is of substantially straight form having two end portions, the crank arm portion engaging the abutment on the hinge arm defining the extremity of one end portion, and there being another crank arm portion defining the extremity of the other end portion that is suitably fixed against rotation and endwise movement with respect to said bracket by means providing for adjustment of the loading of said torsion bar.

8. A hinge as set forth in claim 1 wherein the crank arm portion on the protruding end portion of said torsion bar is arranged so that the lid supporting hinge arm is closely confined by said crank arm portion and is swingable between the latter and said bracket, and the slot is so located with respect to the hinge arm pivot and the abutment on the hinge arm that that portion of the torsion bar protruding from the slot in said bracket is arranged to be engaged by said hinge arm to limit the opening movement of the lid.

References Citetl in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,797,434 Vigmostad July 2, 1957 2,810,153 Semar Oct. 22, 1957 2,871,505 Clark et al. Feb. 3, 1959 2,908,934 Ragsdale Oct. 20, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,189,418 France Mar. 23, 1959 

1. A HINGE FOR A COMPARTMENT LID COMPRISING A FIXED BRACKET HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL OPEN END SLOT PROVIDED IN ONE EDGE PORTION THEREOF AND A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL PIVOT ELEMENT ON SAID BRACKET PROVIDED IN INWARDLY SPACED RELATION TO THE INNER END OF SAID SLOT, A LID SUPPORTING HINGE ARM PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID BRACKET ON SAID PIVOT ELEMENT, AN ELONGATED SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL TORSION BAR HAVING ITS ONE END SUITABLY FIXED AGAINST ROTATION AND ENDWISE MOVEMENT WITH RESPECT TO SAID BRACKET AND HAVING ITS OTHER END ENTERED LATERALLY INTO THE OPEN END OF SAID SLOT AND EXTENDING FREELY THROUGH SAID SLOT, THE PROTRUDING END PORTION OF SAID TORSION BAR BEING BENT SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO DEFINE A CRANK ARM PORTION IN CLOSELY SPACED PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP TO SAID BRACKET, AND ARRANGED SO THAT THE LID SUPPORTING HINGE ARM IS CLOSELY CONFINED BY SAID CRANK ARM PORTION AND SWINGABLE BETWEEN IT AND SAID BRACKET AND AN ABUTMENT ON THE HINGE ARM IN RADIALLY SPACED RELATION TO ITS PIVOT AND HAVING BEARING ENGAGEMENT DIRECTLY ON THE CRANK ARM PORTION OF SAID TORSION BAR AND MOVABLE ALONG IT TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID SLOT IN THE OPENING AND CLOSING MOVEMENT OF THE LID, WHEREBY IN THE MOVEMENT OF THE LID FROM OPEN TO CLOSED POSITION THE ABUTMENT ON THE HINGE ARM CAUSES SAID TORSION BAR TO BE TWISTED AS SAID ABUTMENT MOVES ALONG THE CRANK ARM PORTION OF SAID TORSION BAR TOWARD THE FREE END THEREOF SO THAT THE WEIGHT OF THE LID SUPPORTED BY SAID HINGE ARM ACTS THROUGH A PROGRESSIVELY INCREASING LEVERAGE ON THE TORSION BAR. 